Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.In today’s edition, Andrea Mitchell reviews the ways President Donald Trump is leaving a physical stamp on the nation’s capital.Plus, we dig into the Cabinet officials Republicans want on the stump this fall.
Programming note: We’re off tomorrow ahead of the holiday weekend.We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday.
— Adam WollnerSign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.How Trump is leaving his mark — literally — on Washington and beyondAnalysis by Andrea MitchellPresident Donald Trump often describes himself as a builder.Last week, he showed off the new helipad covering a large swath of the South Lawn to visiting schoolchildren.He frequently displays renderings of his proposed arch and ballroom in the Oval Office.
And during a meeting with oil industry executives earlier this year, he extolled the ballroom excavation that could be seen outside an East Room window, which the Supreme Court has allowed to proceed.There is no question that Trump is reshaping national parks, memorials and the physical landscape of the nation’s capital.Today, a federal judge blessed the administration’s plans to replace a popular, inexpensive public golf course with what he has called a “world class championship” course modeled after his own.
With construction scheduled for this month, bicyclists and preservationists opposed the administration chopping down 150 trees, including Japanese cherry trees.The Justice Department told a court today that 77 of the cut-down trees were determined to be “invasive” and 73 were taken down because they were “dead, dying or hazardous.”Judge Ana Reyes said she found “no reason” not to believe the government but remarked it was ironic that 250 years after the nation’s birth, “we are here talking about a ...